This site features an online archive of Harper's Weekly newspapers
published during the Civil War. These old newspapers make fascinating
reading, and present first reports of the battles and key events. The
woodcut illustrations were created by eye-witnesses to the events and
shed new light on this important conflict. This material is simply not
available anywhere else.

(Scroll Down to See Entire Page, or Newspaper Thumbnails below will take you to the page of interest)

THE CAPTURE OF FORT FISHER.

AFTER
the failure of the first attempt against
Fort Fisher in December, the fleet returned to
Beaufort to await further orders
from the President and Secretary of the Navy.
Admiral
PORTER
still remained confident that a persistent effort to capture
the fort would succeed. The reports obtained from prisoners indicated that in
case an assault had been ventured by
General
BUTLER
it would have been crowned with success. How far
Lieutenant-General
GRANT
coincided with this opinion we do not know. But he was so far dissatisfied with
BUTLER'S
conduct of the expedition that at his suggestion
that officer was removed. General
GRANT
certainly
believed that if' the fort could not be taken by assault, there were other means
which would insure its capture. It was unlike him to give the expedition
up after having once undertaken it. And what was of still greater importance,
Wilmington
must
be taken in order to secure for
General
SHERMAN
a convenient water base in North Carolina for cooperation with the armies about
Richmond. General
GRANT'S
plan for the next campaign is a comprehensive
one, and the capture of Fort Fisher was an essential preliminary upon which many
minor details of that campaign depend. In one way or another the capture must be
accomplished, and the sooner the better.

It was taken for granted by the rebels that the attempt would not be repeated—at
least not in connection with a land force. HOKE'S rebel division was therefore
withdrawn from Federal Point. This conviction of security was doubtless
increased by the opinion publicly expressed by General
WEITZEL that the rebel work was impregnable by assault. The result also
of the first bombardment, though it was pronounced terrific, was not such as to
give a merely naval attack any hope of success.

In the mean time the military division of the expedition was considerably
reinforced. General BUTLER'S
force had numbered 6500. To these another brigade was added, and to General
TERRY was given the command of the division.

Orders to move from Beaufort were received January 11. No warning was given to
the enemy by delay, and the weather favored a prompt movement. The fleet arrived
off Federal Point on the morning of the 13th, and the troops were landed with
twelve days' provisions in the afternoon. The naval engagement commenced at 7.30
A.M. Admiral PORTER
sent in the
New Ironsides, in whose lead followed four Monitors—the
Saugus,
Canonicue,
Monadnock, and Mahopac. These came within a thousand yards of the fort,
and drew its fire in order to ascertain the position of its guns as a guide
to their own fire. This bombardment began to tell
soon upon the southern angle of Fort Fisher. The traverses began to
disappear, and one after another
the guns were silenced. "By
way of letting the enemy know that we did not intend to take any unfair
advantage of him by using the iron vessels alone,"
PORTER ordered the wooden ships, led by

the
Brooklyn, to advance to the attack. These performed their part " in the
handsomest manner ; not a mistake was committed except firing too rapidly and
making too much smoke." At night
the wooden vessels retired, and the
iron-clads fired irregularly all night. A
good portion of the troops were

landed, and were within a mile
and a half
of the fort,
occupying a line along the entire width of the peninsula.
A 15-inch gun burst during the day on
the
Mahopac, wounding three
persons, two of whom were officers.

On the 14th, Saturday, the bombardment was

renewed and kept up till sunset, when, says
Admiral
PORTER, " the fort was reduced to a pulp." During the day a careful
reconnaissance was made by General
TERRY, who determined to risk an assault on the following day.

On the 15th, arrangements having been made between the naval and military
commanders for the proposed assault, all the vessels of the fleet united in a
heavy fire, which was kept up until 3 o'clock
P.M. This was the time fixed upon for the assault.
TERRY had placed
PAINE'S
Division of colored soldiers along the line facing Wilmington, while AMES'S
Division, supported by fourteen hundred marines, advanced to the assault. The
navel brigade was under the command of Commander K. R. BREESE.
Lieutenant
CUSHING
was one of the company commanders. This column advanced against the seaward
front of the fort on the left. During the past
hour or two the bombardment had been unusually terrific, the sailors in the mean
while having laid down behind partial breast-works. But the moment the fleet
ceased firing and the marines rose to their feet the garrison of the fort,
numbering over two thousand, appeared on the parapet. This was evidently thought
by the rebels to he the main column of the assault, and the whole available
force of the fort was turned against them. Before this fire the troops began at
length to waver. The men fell thick and fast, some of them being rolled by the
surf into the water. Here the brave Lieutenants
PRESTON and
PORTER fell. This column was repulsed amidst the cheers of the rebel
garrison. This repulse was owing to a lack of organization among the marines. It
was intended that the party boarding the parapet should be covered by marines
and sharp-shooters in the trenches which had been dug within 200 yards of the
fort. No such support was given, and the assault failed.

In the mean time AMES'S Division had already approached the western side of the
fort. The garrison had been aware of their presence in the woods, but supposed
that they were intended to reinforce the naval column. The movement which was
really made had the effect of a surprise. The naval brigade had only been in
action a few minutes when AMES'S column, from the Cape Fear River side, entered
the fort at the west end through the sally-port. The abbatis was scaled, and the
flags of the One Hundred and Seventeenth New York and the Thirteenth Indiana, of
General CURTIS's
Brigade, were quickly planted on
the fifth and sixth traverses of the fort. Behind the sixth traverse the enemy
made a stand, but a bold bayonet charge drove them to the seventh. The top of
the eighth had been gained when the assailants were driven back into the
seventh, where the fighting lasted over an hour, when, at a given signal,
PORTER aided the
troops by bombarding the eastern portion
of the fort. It was a smooth sea, and such accuracy
was obtained in the firing from the fleet that only two or three shells
fell among our own force, while they produced considerable effect on the enemy.
" These traverses," says Admiral
PORTER, "are (Next
Page)

LANDING OF SOLDIERS AND SAILORS ABOVE FORT FISHER,
JANUARY 13, 1865.

We acquired this leaf for the purpose of digitally
preserving it for your research and enjoyment. If you would like
to acquire the original 140+ year old Harper's Weekly leaf we used to
create this page, it is available for a price of $195. Your
purchase allows us to continue to archive more original material. For
more information, contact paul@sonofthesouth.net

Site Copyright 2003-2014
Son of the South. For Questions or comments about this collection,
contact paul@sonofthesouth.net